1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to an article of manufacture. More specifically, this invention concerns itself with a cigarette substitute which is designed to satisfy the psychogenic drives and pharmacological needs of the smoker, without subjecting the smoker, or others in his immediate vicinity, to exposure to cigarette smoke, or other unwanted intrusions upon his person.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The potential ill-effects inherent in smoking cigarettes and other tobacco products are well documented and need not be repeated here. Because of the recognized risks associated with smoking, the tobacco industry has introduced products having low tar and nicotine content; enhanced the efficiency of the filters on their filtered cigarettes; and labeled the cigarette pack, as directed by the Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service, to provide an informatinal message warning the purchaser of the health risks associated with smoking. All of the measures taken by the tobacco industry, the warnings of the Surgeon General, the educational programs and messages from national associations concerned with heart disease and lung cancer, and incentives for medical/health insurance have done little to dissuade the habitual smoker from continuing to smoke. The reasons underlying his resistance to break this habit are three-fold:
(a) The psychological and social drives associated with smoking, namely, the apparent need or ritual involved in the lighting and holding of a cigarette and gratification derived by placing it in one's mouth;
(b) to simulate the act of puffing on a cigarette; and
(c) the pharmacological effects of nicotine upon the body.
Because of the above health risks and the inability, or reluctance, of the tobacco industry to produce a less toxic product, various alternatives to the conventional cigarette have been proposed. These alternatives generally fall into two categories:
(a) cigarettes incorporating some feature designed to lessen the effects of inhalation of smoke, or modulate the amount/quality of smoke that is inhaled; and
(b) devices which simulate cigarettes without the production of combustion products.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,439,685; 4,319,587 and 4,492,239; Canadian Patent No. 787,688; U.K. Patent Nos. 1,014,452 and 1,113,943; and German Patent No. 1,053,996 are fairly representative of the cigarettes referred to in category (a) above. More specifically, all of the devices described in the foregoing patents involve either attempts at modification of the combustion process or the products of combustion.
More specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,239 proposes the modification of a tobacco filler, or tobacco substitute, with a chemical agent (i.e. a lacrimator). This chamical substance is released during the combustion of the tobacco filler, thereby producing a gas which is offensive to the smoker (and presumably all non-smokers in this immediate vicinity).
U.S. Pat. No. 3,439,685 suggests the use of a series of cigarettes, each series having a different nicotine content and a varying concentration of unpleasant tasting substance. This patent suggests weaning the smoker off of cigarettes by progressively decreasing the nicotine content in each of the series of cigarettes and while at the same time progressively increasing the content of the unpleasant tasting substance in each series of cigarettes. The underlying hypothesis of the invention is that such progressive change in the cigarette from the high to low nicotine content and from the low to high content of unpleasant tasting substance, will result in breaking the smokers psychological need for cigarettes because of the unpleasantness associated with smoking. Moreover, the physical need for nicotine is also eliminated by such progressive reduction in its uptake.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,587 describes a method for enabling a smoker to modulate his consumption of cigarettes. The expedient suggested for achieving this result is the provision of some type of reference marks (graduations), or indices, imprinted along the length of the cigarette wrapper. These indices allow the smoker to gauge the extent to which the cigarette is smoked. Its success is, thus, based entirely upon the willingness of the smoker to limit the amount of his smoking based upon some standard which he himself is to set.
Canadian Patent No. 787,688 illustrates a smoking device which is designed to reduce the ratio of particulate matter (i.e. tar) to nicotine in cigarette smoke while at the same time satisfying the smokers physical needs for nicotine. In this device, a hollow channel is provided within a modified cigarette. The interior of this channel is coated with a substance that liberates a nicotine aerosol at elevated temperatures. Thus, as this device is smoked, the amount of smoke which is inhaled by the smoker will be diluted by the air from the central channel. Notwithstanding a reduction in the quantity of smoke inhaled, the nicotine consumption will remain essentially unchanged, since any deficiency in the nicotine from the amount of smoke which is inhaled is more than offset by the nicotine aerosol.
U.K. Patent No. 1,014,452 is similar in its disclosure to U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,587 (previously discussed). This patent simply suggests the placement of some indices on the cigarette wrapper to alert the smoker not to smoke the cigarette beyond this indexing mark. Accordingly, this device is entirely dependent on self policing by the smoker and does not otherwise alter the quantity or quality of the smoke that is inhaled.
U.K. Patent No. 1,113,943 is somewhat similar to U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,239 (previously discussed). As the cigarette is smoked, it will be consumed to a point where it releases an unpleasant smell or taste, or some other indicia to alert the smoker to discontinue smoking. Under some conditions, the modification of the cigarette can prevent the smoker from further drawing smoke through the mouthpiece end.
German Patent No. 1,053,996 describes a device having an annular restriction around the cigarette near the mouthpiece end. This restriction presumably makes it more difficult for the smoker to draw smoke through the cigarette and, thus, presumably reduces the amount of smoke inhaled.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,284,089 is representative of the cigarettes referred to in category (b) above. More specifically, the device described in this patent does not resort to combustion in its attempt at satisfying the smokers craving for nicotine. In the device described in this patent, a source of vaporizable nicotine is absorbed onto a transfer medium. This transfer medium is packed within a cigarette-like structure. An air channel is provided within the structure from one end to the other and is surrounded by the absorbent material. The nature of the air channel is such as to create a venturi effect from one end of this device to the other. Upon drawing air through the air channel, the vaporizable nicotine is drawn through pores in the channel and inhaled by the smoker. The venturi-like structure of the channel creates a pressure drop furthering the vaporization of the nicotine. The patentee acknowledges one serious drawback in his device, in that the vaporizable nicotine which is drawn into the air channel depletes the source of this material in the immediate vicinity of the channel. Once the area in immediate contact with the air channel is depleted of vaporizable material, no further nicotine can be drawn into the air channel for a finite period until the source of vaporizable nicotine diffuses within the absorbent material to the vicinity of the air channel and thereby replaces that which has been previously depleted. Accordingly, this device, at best, provides an intermittent source of nicotine for the smoker and, thus, as presently configured, cannot adequately simulate cigarette smoking.
As is evident from the foregoing discussion, the vast majority of devices which have been conceived for reducing smoker dependency upon cigarettes involve some form of combustion or combustion products. In each of such instances, not only is the smoker exposed to such combustion products, but also the nonsmoker in the immediate vicinity. The nonsmoker, or the passive smoker, is becoming increasingly intolerant of these intrusions upon his person, and where such combustion products contain additional offensive agents, such tolerance will indeed by short-lived.
In those devices where combustion products are not produced, it is apparent that the simulation of smoking is not adequately achieved nor can the smokers physiological needs for nicotine be adequately satisfied.
Thus, there is a continuing need for an adequate substitute for cigarette smoking which can satisfy the smokers cravings for nicotine, fulfills his needs to physically simulate the act of smoking and yet avoids subjecting the nonsmoker to combustion products to which he may be allergic or to which he finds offensive.